Mail processing system for verifying postage amount

ABSTRACT

The method and apparatus for verifying that the correct postage has been paid includes a mail processing machine which is adapted to receive properly oriented mail via a transport from a racer apparatus. The mail processing machine includes a scale for weighing a mailpiece having postage affixed thereto for the purpose of cancelling it with a mark which includes the actual postage which should be affixed. In a further embodiment other information necessary to calculate the necessary postage is obtained by reading the information from the mailpiece. Any discrepancies between the postage affixed and the amount of postage which should actually be paid may be noted at acceptance or seen by the carrier as the mail is delivered. A batch of mail may be sampled to select representative mailpieces in a random manner and verified to compare the calculated total of postage required based on the sample to the postal amount paid for the batch by the sender.

This application is a division of U.S. Pat. No. 07/952,071 filed on Sep.25, 1992.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to mail processing and delivery systems and moreparticularly to cancelling apparatus which is adapted to mark or"cancel" the postage affixed to or printed on a mailpiece to prevent itsreuse.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In typical mail distribution operations at the various post officesworldwide, the metered and stamped mail is received in enormous volumes.In large mail distribution centers, if the mailpieces carry an imprintedindicia, the mailpieces are processed by sorters to sort the mail to itsdestination or in the event that the mailpiece has an affixed stamp, itis processed by the so-called facer-canceller which can orient themailpiece cancel the stamp prior to the sorting of these mailpieces. Ineither case the actual weight of the mailpiece is normally never checkedduring the course of these operations.

As is well known in the United States and in many other countries, thepostage amount required for delivery increases with the weight and sizeof the mailpiece. Accordingly, the Post Office will lose revenue on itsdelivery if in fact the postal rate (according to the postal Weight-RateTables) corresponding to the weight and/or size of the mailpiece exceedsthe postage paid. In fact, one of the major factors contributing to lossof revenue is perceived to be the underpayment for individualmailpieces, and particularly those individual mailpieces being sent inbatch mailings. In the conventional postal delivery systems, however,the costs associated with verifying the correct postage on an individualmailpiece may be prohibitive in terms of employee time since each pieceto be verified must be manually extracted and individually weighed andrated either at entry into the mailstream or at some time duringsubsequent mail processing and delivery.

For batch mailings, there is normally a manual sampling and rating ofmailpieces prior to merging them into the mailstream at the facility,but it will be appreciated that this sampling is at best inefficientbecause of possible human errors and the small sample size of suchmanual checking.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,400 to Mandulay discloses a system for monitoringthe integrity of mail pieces passing through the delivery system fortracking and prevention of theft. In this system a data base is updatedto include the initial weight and destination address of a mailpiece. Asthe mailpiece moves through the system the weight and the destinationdata are compared at the various stages to determine any discrepancies.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,991 to Sansone et.al., entitled CERTIFIEDWEIGHER-SHORT PAID MAIL describes a system for assuring the post officethat the weight of a mailpiece which would ordinarily require morepostage was correctly accounted with consideration to other postagediscounts, for example, number of mailpieces being sent to a particularZIP-code. U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,827 to Sansone, et. al., entitled CENTRALPOSTAGE DATA COMMUNICATION NETWORK describes a user system forcertifying by marking a pre-posted mailpiece that any requiredadditional postage due on the mailpiece has been accounted for to thepost office.

While each of these work well for the intended purposes, they do notaddress the problem of routinely assuring that mailpieces which mayenter the mailstream at the post offices from the counter, letter boxesor in batch mailings carry sufficient postage. The teaching of the '400patent also requires the use of extensive computer facilities formaintaining the database and for certifying and protecting theaccounting for postage.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a novel method andapparatus for verifying that the required postage amount is affixed to amailpiece.

It is a further object to provide a method and apparatus for automaticverification of batches of mailpieces.

These and other objects of the invention are realized in an apparatusfor verifying postage paid comprising a facet means operative fororienting and presenting mailpieces for cancelling of postage affixedthereto; a weighing module for receiving a mailpiece having postageaffixed thereon from the facer means and weighing said mailpiece;printing means; a transport means for transporting the mailpiece fromthe weighing module to the printing means; said printing means beingoperative for marking on said mailpiece a cancelling markingcorresponding to correct postage for the mailpiece in correspondencewith a determined rating and a weight as determined by the weighingmeans, whereby the marking enables comparison between postage affixed tothe mailpiece and the actual value of required postage for delivery ofthe mailpiece.

In a second embodiment the apparatus comprises a data entry means and adisplay for input and output of data relating to a batch of mail; aweighing module for weighing a mailpiece having postage affixed thereon;scanning means for reading character information from the mailpiece;printing means; a transport means for transporting the mailpiece forscanning thereof from the weighing module to the printing means; saidprinting means being selectably operable for marking on said mailpiece amarking corresponding to correct postage for the mailpiece incorrespondence with a weight as determined by the weighing means andrating information determinable from scanning of said mailpiece, wherebythe marking enables comparison between postage affixed to the mailpieceand the actual value of required postage for delivery of the mailpiece.

In another aspect there is provided a method for verifying the postageon a mailpiece having postage affixed thereto comprising the steps ofweighing a mailpiece having postage previously affixed thereto, settinga printing mechanism adapted for printing postal value to a valuecorresponding to a weight obtained from the weighing of said mailpiece,and cancelling the previously affixed postage using said printingmechanism to provide a cancellation mark that includes a value ofpostage calculated from rating information and the weight obtained fromthe weighing step.

In any of the foregoing aspects of the invention, the printing means mayfurther comprise means operative for printing the date of cancellation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a cancelling apparatus in accordance withthe invention,

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the basic operation of the cancelling processin accordance with the invention,

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of another embodiment of an apparatusparticularly adapted for verifying larger batches of mail.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the method for verifying postage in accordancewith the invention in respect of the apparatus of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In FIG. 1, there is shown generally at 10 a block diagram of a postageverifying system in accordance with the invention. The apparatuscomprises a racer 12 which may be a conventional facet portion of aconventional facer-canceller, such as those typically used in thepresent mail-distribution facilities of the Post Office.

The facer 12 receives a mailpiece indicated at 14 from the input hopper16 which holds the mailpieces to be verified and orients the mailpiecein conventional manner to position the mailpiece in the proper positionfor cancelling of the postage stamp (or meter impression). The termpostage affixed to a mailpiece as used herein shall refer to both stampsand meter impressions signifying that value has been paid for thesending of the mailpiece. In accordance with the invention, instead ofbeing transported as previously known to the conventional cancellersection of the facer-canceller, the oriented mailpiece 14 is deliveredby a mailpiece transport such as the continuous belt indicated at 18 tothe input hopper 20 of a mailing machine comprising feeder section 22which includes a transport 24 and an electronic postage meter section at26. Mailpieces such as the mailpiece 14 placed on the hopper 20 areserially fed to the meter section 26 for overprinting of a cancellingindicia by a printing mechanism shown in block 28. The cancellingindicia printed by printing mechanism 28 includes postage value and, ifdesired or required by Post Office regulations for example, the currentdate. The mailing machine feeder section 22 includes scale 30 forweighing the mailpiece and communicating its weight to a microprocessorcontrol apparatus 32 so that the appropriate postage value may beimprinted on the mailpiece as communicated either directly to the meteror by way of the microprocessor control apparatus 32. In the preferredembodiment illustrated here, the meter section 26 comprises a detachablemeter which may be easily removed and replaced by similar types of meterapparatus having other features as described below.

If desired, a suitable keyboard 34 and display 36 communicate with themicroprocessor control apparatus 32 for input and output of informationin relation to scale 30, meter section 26, and transport 24.

A more detailed description of a suitable mailing machine is describedin U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,078 entitled High Throughput Mailing MachineTiming, assigned to the assignee of the instant application andspecifically incorporated by reference herein.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that in order toprovide the cancelling function in accordance with the invention, theinking of the indicia normally associated with postage metering functionmust be changed to be indelible ink, for example the conventional inkused by a Postal Authority, in order to prevent the washing of stampsfor reuse. Other colors may also be used, if desired for instance, todistinguish the mailpieces that have been cancelled by the apparatus inaccordance with the invention from the conventional cancellations of thePostal Authority.

It will also be understood that the printer which in a preferredembodiment is a postage meter printer, is not required in the instantsituation to account for funds expended and therefore the accountingroutines and security measures normally associated with the known metersmay be simplified. While it is not believed necessary to change theformat of the indicia typically used for imprinted postage meterindicias, except as necessary to distinguish it from valid postage meterimpressions, it will also be appreciated that other markings are alsocontemplated in the event that a particular figure is required to allowthe underlying value on the previously affixed postage to be readable.

In operation of the apparatus of FIG. 1 as seen in conjunction with theflowchart as illustrated in FIG. 2, the mailpieces having previouslyaffixed postage are placed in the hopper 16 of the racer portion wherethe individual mailpieces are oriented and fed to hopper 20 of themailing machine feeder section 22. The mailpiece is weighed, block 60 ofFIG. 2, and the printer is set for the current date and appropriatepostage, block 70, in accordance with the weight of the mailpiece andpertinent rating information as stored in the microprocessor control 32or input through keyboard 34 or other input means. As the mailpiece istransported through the meter portion, an indicia including the date andvalid postage amount for the particular mailpiece is printed over thepreviously affixed postage amount, block 80, thereby allowing easycomparison by a postal route carrier or other Post Office official todetermine whether additional postage is due while at the same timecancelling the previously affixed postage. It will be appreciated thatthe mark showing the amount of postage required may be placed anywhereon the mailpiece so long as the cancelling of the previously affixedpostage is also accomplished.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the invention particularly adaptedfor verification of larger batches of mail wherein the electronic metersection shown at 26' further comprises a scanner 38, such as, forexample, one of the well known OCR readers and/or postal bar codereaders, which is operative to read address as well as other determinedinformation and the value of the postage affixed to the mailpiece aswell as any presort and barcode information if desired, in order tocapture additional information such as the address and the affixedpostal amount. It will be understood that the scanner can be placed atother positions along the path of the mailpiece, however when located inthe meter section in cooperation with the printer, the replacement ofthe meter unit with the scanner printer is enabled in a particularlyconvenient manner.

In a preferred embodiment, the printing mechanism may be made to operateselectably where it is desired to simply store the information inrelation to the scanned mailpieces and compare the actual total postagedue with the amount submitted by the sender, for example, on a manifest.This result may then be printed at the end of the run either by theprinting mechanism 28 or by a separate printer (not shown) forcomparison to a manifest or other documentation.

It should be noted that in FIG. 3 those modules which are unchanged fromFIG. 1 retain the same numbers. Additional mailpiece measurementapparatus indicated at block 40 may also be included to determine thesizes of the pieces in order to further determine if a particular ratingshould be applied. This may be a separate module, but it could also beconventional photodiode detectors, arranged as required in the transportpath at a convenient point, which are blocked and unblocked by varioussized mailpieces

If required, additional memories shown at 42 for storage of informationand look-up tables may be added in known manner to communicate with themicroprocessor control 32. Similarly, the required input data and outputdata from the mailing machine control 32 may be obtained from and/or fedto additional computers or data storage devices not shown. Themailpieces may be sent to an optional sorter 44 for further processingif desired.

FIG. 4 illustrates the method for verification using the apparatus ofFIG. 3. The first step indicated at 100 is sampling of the batch of mailsubmitted for verification. It will be understood that the sample mayinclude the entire batch of mailpieces in a particular mailing, but thisis believed to be inefficient and not necessarily required for adequateverification of a batch of mail.

Two attributes of the sampling have been found to be important. Thefirst is to assure that the sample is random, in other words, that theselected pieces are not biased in terms of belonging to a group not witha specific property not present in other members of the batch. It willbe understood that randomness can never be guaranteed; however, it isbelieved that standard measures such as selecting mailpieces fromdifferent sources and places, having different size, weight and make-upcan establish reasonable randomness of the sample.

The second important attribute is the size of the sample taken. The sizeof the sample in a sense guarantees representativeness of the sample. Itwill be appreciated that the size of the sample can be determined usingwell-known statistical procedures. See, for example, Snedecor andCochran, Statistical Methods, The Iowa State University Press, 1979. Thesize of the sample is a function of the allowable error, the desiredconfidence level and the estimated size of the batch.

It has been found, by way of example only and not as a limitation, thateven for a very large mailing, a 1% error having a 95% confidence leveldefines the size of sample as 1,475 mailpieces assuming a binomialdistribution for correct/incorrect postage and probability of success(correct postage) at 96% and probability of incorrect postage 4%. With amailing machine capability of processing, for example, only 3000 piecesper hour, a sample of this size may be processed in about 30 minutes.

For best results, the determination can be carried out under control ofthe microprocessor control 32 and the sample size displayed as a resultof operator input as to size of the batch, allowed error and confidencelevel. After entry of the data by the operator the required sample sizeis displayed.

Once the sample size is determined the mailpieces are selected andprocessed. As the individual mailpieces are fed through the mailingmachine, the geometrical dimensions are obtained, block 110; the weightis obtained, block 120; the level of standardization, that is, the depthand format of the postal code present on the mailpiece is determined,block 130; the level of service, for example, desired delivery time isobtained, block 140; the group property or presort level is obtained,block 150; the declared or printed postage value is read, block 160; andthe class and other special services are obtained, block 170.

The proper postage rate for a given mailpiece is then computed using thedata elements thus obtained, block 180. It will be appreciated that thiscomputation can either be by way of algorithm or simply by using alook-up table which has multiple discrete entries for size, weight,level of service, etc.

It will be understood that where the postage rate is also determined bythe level of presort, this group property is not determinable from asingle mailpiece. In this case it will be appreciated that the entiregroup of mailpieces which belong to the same sorting entity must beincluded in the sample and in this case the assurance of samplerandomness is more difficult.

If the individual mailpieces are collected from street boxes, forexample, at the YES branch of decision block 190, the sorter 44 may beset to outsort or otherwise flag mailpieces for which the determinedpostage rating value fails to match the amount affixed to the mailpiece,block 200. The incorrectly postaged mailpieces can be returned to senderfor insufficient postage.

In the alternative, particularly where the mailpieces have no printedevidence of postage to compare, at the NO branch of block 190, thepostage due for the mailpiece is added to a running total, block 210,and the routine loops back to repeat the checking of the next mailpiece.When the last mailpiece is checked, decision block 220, the postage duefor the entire mailing is computed based on the verified sample andprinted out along with the allowed margin for error, block 230. Thistotal can be compared with the manifested value of the mailing andadditional postage can be levied in the event the discrepancy exceedssome specified value. It will be appreciated that if desired the valuedetermined for each mailpiece could be printed on the mailpiece toprovide proof of checking in this situation as well.

It will be understood that the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3 can alsobe simplified to operate in a semiautomatic mode. Such a system may, forexample, require manual input of the information obtained as a result ofthe scanning and recognition process. In a simple implementation, thepostage amount and postal code are displayed to the operator who entersthese via the keyboard 34. The postal rate is computed and printed overthe previously affixed postage and the incorrectly postaged mailpiecesare outsorted as previously described.

It will be further appreciated that a particularly efficient operationis obtained in the apparatus in accordance with the invention for thosebatches of mailpieces in which each mailpiece is anticipated to requirethe same amount of postage (shown at 230). For instance, in the U.S. theapparatus might be set to 29 cents for mailpieces weighing an oz. orless. In such case the mailpieces could be efficiently scanned tooutsort those mailpieces carrying insufficient affixed postage with nofurther operator input required beyond the initial setup for theanticipated rate.

In another mode of operation (shown at 240) information may be providedto the apparatus from an external source (such as a floppy disk),describing the amount of postage required by each mailpiece in a groupto be processed.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for verifying the postage on a mailpiecehaving postage affixed thereto comprising the steps of weighing amailpiece having postage previously affixed thereto, setting a printingmechanism adapted for printing postal value to a value corresponding toa weight obtained from the weighing of said mailpiece, and cancellingthe previously affixed postage using said printing mechanism to providea cancellation mark that includes a value of postage calculated fromdetermined rating information and the weight obtained from the weighingstep.
 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of measuringthe size of the mailpiece.
 3. The method of claim 1 further comprisingthe step of scanning the mailpiece to obtain information therefromrelevant to the postal rating for the mailpiece.
 4. The method of claim3 wherein the information is address information.
 5. The method of claim1 further comprising the step of calculating a sample size for verifyingthe actual postage of a batch of mailpieces to be verified.
 6. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising the step of printing a date as aportion of the cancelling marking.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein thecancelling mark is printed using an indelible ink.
 8. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the indelible ink selected to distinguish from an inkused by a postal is authority for a conventional cancellation mark.